John Liu’s Top Priorities as Chair of NYC ED Subcommittee
Education will always be a high area of interest in Albany, especially in the wake of the Senate’s recent flip to Democratic control. Now it will also serve as John C. Liu’s political rebirth. The senator-elect and former New York City comptroller was named chair of the state Senate’s subcommittee on New York City education. The power of this position is real and Liu knows it. The public will look to Liu on topics such as diversifying the city’s most sought after high schools, Renewal Schools and their funding, admissions tests and charter schools.
He was wary of sharing great detail on where he stands or what he’s hearing, citing the need to speak with his colleagues before the press “from the outset.” Though he is tight lipped about some aspects, he is more liberal about other. “I have and continue to believe that de Blasio’s plan is a non-starter,” referring to the Mayor’s plan to scrap admissions tests to the top eight elite high schools.
The city has proposed scrapping the admissions test and instead granting admission to the top 7 percent of middle school students, using metrics that include GPAs and performance on state assessments. There are groups of parents — many from white and Asian families — who have fiercely opposed the plan. Sixty-two percent of Asians make up the student bodies at specialized high schools. While Liu, an Asian-American, agrees that these schools have a segregation problem, he has said that de Blasio’s plan does not do enough to prepare students of different backgrounds in elementary and middle school (a critique shared by other opponents, too). He has also criticized the mayor for not getting feedback from the Asian-American community before announcing the proposal in June.
Liu said the New York City education subcommittee will be his no. 1 priority among committee assignments. Let’s see if that promise is kept through his tenure.
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